The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-04-23
PERMANENT PASTURES.
DiHicultics in Securing Them In Many Por-
tIons of the United states.

| Holland and Belgium, there Is much
land that has been devoted to gardening
purposes for centuries. During all this
time the sod has never been broken,
| and, unless light scarifier was used,
It has never been disturbed. The be-
| lief Is general in these countries that
pastures, like wine, increase in value
as they increase in aye. Many state
that the grasses best suited for the sum-
mer feed of cattle, horses and sheep
produce not only better but larger crops
rs they become old. Dairy farmers in
England and Holland state that richer
milk is given by cows that Craze on old
pastures than by those that feed on land
that was recently seeded down to grass.
Such being the case, they affirm that
the superiority of Cheddar and Edom
cheese is due to the hcrbage that only
grows in pastures that have long been
grazed by cattle. Butter produced in
the province of Normandy, France, and
in the south of Ireland commands the
highest price in the London market, and
in these places permanent pastures are
established institutions, many of them
having remained undisturbcd for several
centuries.
There are other parts of the world
where the practice of keeping land per-
mancntly in grass designed to be eaten
in its green state by farm animals is
general. In the vicinity of Quebec and
Montreal, Canada there are many
pieces of land that have been continual
ly grazed since the country was first
settled by the French. They are still
very productive. and the quality of the
grass is excellent They present the
appearance of well-kept lawns, though
it is said no labor is expended on them.
Cows kept for the purpose of supplying
milk do the work performed by the
lawn-mowcr. There are very old pas
lures, not only in the villages. but on
the mountain-sides, in Switzerland and
northern Italy. They are occupied by
cows sheep and goats, the milk of all
of them being used for making cheese.
There are some quite old pastures in
Virginia, Kentucky and Vermont that
are very productive. The soil was
slowly formed as the forests were
thinned out and the trees girdled and re-
moved, and it was never turned by the
plow, chiefly for the reason that the
ground was largely occupied by stones,
stumps and roots. The ground has not
been plowcd since the latter rOtted be-
cause it produced so large an amount
of excellent grass.
During the past few years there has
been vast amount of speaking and
writing in this country in relation tC
| permanent pastures, and the impression
has been created that it is comparative
ly easy to establish a permanent past
ure sod almost anywhere, providing
that the soil and climate are favorable
, to the production of grass. In conse
qucnce of what has been presented on
this subject many have gone resolutely
to work with Il view of establishing I;
; pasture sod that would be rs productive
and rs lasting rs those on the banks o
the Meuse, Severn and st. Lawrence
, They understood that a long time wout
be required to bring about the desired
, results, but they were not discouraged
on this account. Many were discour
, aged, however, when the grasses the,
introduced began to die out before they
had formed II tolcrably compact sod
Many dairymen in the Northwestern
States succeeded in Introducing blue
grass, red-top and other valuable past
IRE grasses on native prairie sod, ant
, in making their pastures carry mucl
more stock than they ever did before
Some dairymen and beef-producers sc
, cured Il good and apparently perma
, nent sod by sowing the seed of II varie
ty of grasses and clovers on land tha
had been under cultivation severa
; years, moving them few seasons, ant
!. then dcvoting the land to pasturing ami
mails.
, The failures in securing a permancn
stand of good pasture grasses have bccl
numerous, and many good dairymcl
and cattle-feeders now contend that
is best to break up pasture land after
. has been grazed from five to ten years
to raise one OF two crops of corn on it
to then raise one crop of small grass
Q and finally to seed it to grass and Glove
: again. They recommend using thes
crops for hay at least two years, whel
they would devote the land to pasturage
They state that moss, sorrel and n Va
riety of weeds spring up on land that j
Srazed for several years in succession
: and that they finally occupy as muc
, ground as the grasses do. When thi
is the case they find the easiest way u
. killing this useless vegetation is to plo,
it under and to make an entirely ne,
start by sowing grass and clover see'
on soil that is in the best condition t.
Q insure termination and large growth
4 Observing farmers in some portions G
1 this State declare that the productive
n ness ofpastures constantly declines, an
o that larger acreage is required t
n keep II given number of cattle or shee
n every year. They are advocates @
4 fresh pastures" and they manag
n their places so that all the Ian
v shall be in pasture only few years u
: time.
o 1t is likely that excellent pcrmanen
J. pastures can be secured in some portion
n of the country while they can not b
J. secured in others, A moist climat
n like that of northwestern Europe